The photos above are both cruel and painful to look at, and that’s exactly why I’m posting them. It’s been 46 days since the drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana had an explosion causing crude oil to spew into the Gulf of Mexico. These photos were taken by AP Photographer Charlie Riedel and I think they sum up what’s happening quite well, showing that there are living things dying because of this catastrophe. I think it’s hard to really realize what’s happening since it’s not on land, and we can’t see exactly what this giant blot on a satellite map really means.

It sickens me that the our government hasn’t done more to make these assholes pay for what they’ve done. I don’t think there’s even a way to calculate the damage that has been done and the potential long term problems. I hope whenever this mess is over that BP is held fully accountable for not taking the proper precautions and that our government makes sure that this never happens again.

I also wanted to point out that designer/educator Frank Chimero has updated the Lousiana image from his States Project to reflect the current state of the state. Originally there was gum on the bottom of the shoe, making the statement about how difficult it was to get out of Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina hit. But it’s amazing how well this works when you simply change the pink of bubblegum to the black of crude.